Monday, February 7, 2011

Dancing and Singing Club

Today as I walked between the rows of my students' desks while they were working, I noticed Vaunia writing names down in a column titled, "Club Members". Vaunia is a 10 year old early bloomer. She is smart, obedient, and most noticeably, she is about a head taller than all of her peers. Vaunia is always doodling, reading goosebumps, and waving her hand in the air with an answer ready to be spewed. Unfortunately, because of her natural leader tendency and her size difference, every behavior mishap is overt. So I saw this as a golden opportunity to groom her leadership skills-- I didn't know what I was signing up for. When the students were finished with their assignment, I stuck a post-it note on her desk with a few questions about the purpose of their club. I told her to be ready to answer my questions by lunch. She was more than willing.



At lunch today, Vaunia and a group of about 6 other girls eagerly shared every aspiration they had for their, "Singing and Dancing Club". A few of them said they joined because they are preparing for American Idol. Others just liked being able to sing and dance when they had free play during P.E.

They must have seen my wheels turning because before I could ask them how they could develop their club more (and provide more opportunity for Vauni to become the leader she is bred to be), Jamie asked, "Mr. Capps, will you help us make a video singing and dancing like the one you made with Malaysia?"

And so it continues...

Now I have to wheel and deal with Ms. P to let me steal these kids for 30 minutes each Friday for rehearsals. The first thing on the agenda is showing them PS22 Choir. This is just one of many seeds I intend to plant to motivate MCPSS to allow us to publish these kids to the web and grant them the recognition they deserve.

2 comments:

  1. I am surprised American Idol is their goal with the popularity of Glee. (I do see parents not allowing their young children to watch that particular program though :) I think showing them the PS22 Choir is a great start.

    Although I am not surprised to see you want to do more than just the curriculum with your students, I am still very pleased. Keep it up!

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  2. Yes, Anthony! Keep it up. If Mr. C is pleased, I am super pleased (and not competitive!)

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